Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Role Of Medial Prefrontal Cortical Group Ii Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor In The Development Of Cocaine Sensitization, Xiaohu Xie

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

The current studies examined the role of medial prefrontal cortical (mPFC) group II metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR_2/3) in the development of cocaine sensitization. Initial studies demonstrated that intra-mPFC injection of the mGluR_2/3 receptor agonist, APDC, dose-dependently reduced acute behavioral response to cocaine (0.015-15 nmol/side with significant effects starting at 1.5nmol/side). The effects of APDC were prevented by intra-mPFC co-injections of an mGluR_2/3 antagonist, LY341495 (1.5 nmol/side). Repeated intra-mPFC APDC (1.5 nmol/side) injections also prevented the initiation of behavioral and neurochemical sensitization, which is defined as enhanced nucleus accumbens (NAc) dopamine response to cocaine. Once sensitization was …

An Examination Of The Role Of Anxiety And Obsessive-Compulsive Features In Muscle Dysmorphia Symptomatology, Christopher Chandler

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Although Muscle Dsymorphia (MD) has received more attention in recent years, it still lacks an official classification. The current study incorporates trait anxiety and obsessive-compulsive features into an etiological model of MD in the hopes of establishing them as reliable predictors of such MD symptomatology as drive for muscularity, social physique anxiety, and negative body attitude (self). This model was based upon previous research that has linked trait anxiety and obsessive-compulsive features to eating disorders (ED). In this model, it was predicted that trait anxiety and obsessive-compulsive features would predict overall MD symptomatology, drive for muscularity, social physique anxiety, and …

Treatment Of Co-Morbid Methamphetamine Substance Abuse And Borderline Personality Disorder Features Using Modified Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Jessica R. Schultz Fischer

Dissertations

The study investigated the effectiveness of a time-limited, skills-based treatment in a population of female substance abusers. This project implemented a pilot clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a 12-session modified Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) protocol among a small sample of women, with co-morbid borderline personality disorder features, receiving concurrent outpatient treatment for methamphetamine abuse. A non-concurrent multiple baseline design was used. In addition to on-going assessment conducted during baseline and weekly over the course of treatment, a comprehensive assessment battery was administered pre-, and post-treatment as well as at 1 and 3 months following treatment. Findings suggest that …

Efficacy Of Cognitive Therapy And Pharmacotherapy In Depression: A Meta-Analysis, Daniel B. Michel

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

A meta-analysis comparing the long-term effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and pharmacotherapy in preventing relapse following treatment discontinuation was performed using published studies of depressed participants. Twenty-three articles met inclusionary criteria and were included in the analyses. Weighted effect sizes and moderators, treatment type, were calculated using statistical analysis software. Initially, fixed effects models were applied to the data, but due to significant between-group heterogeneity that could not be fully explained by treatment type, mixed effect models were used to account for the residual heterogeneity. Results indicated that overall, depressed individuals treated to remission with CBT evidence decreased relapse …

Neuroadaptive Changes In The Mesocortical Glutamatergic System During Nicotine Self-Administration And After Extinction In Rats, Fan Wang

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

The mesocorticolimbic pathway is critical in almost all aspects of drug abuse, including nicotine. Though many of the neurochemical and molecular effects of nicotine have been well studied, nicotine’s long-term neuroadaptive effects, specifically within the mesocorticolimbic pathway, are largely undefined. Thus, in current study, we determined the neuroadaptive changes in the mesocortical glutamatergic system during chronic nicotine self-administration (SA), which emulates important aspects of nicotine intake by humans, and after extinction. In the initial study, after 18 days of nicotine SA, in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), NMDA receptor subunit 2A (NR2A) and NR2B were increased by 67% and 83%, …

Inference On Overlapping Coefficients In Two Exponential Populations, Mohammad F. Al-Saleh, Hani M. Samawi

Biostatistics Faculty Publications

Three measures of overlap, namely Matusita’s measureρ , Morisita’s measure λ and Weitzman’s measure Δ are investigated in this article for two exponential populations with different means. It is well that the estimators of those measures of overlap are biased. The bias is of these estimators depends on the unknown overlap parameters. There are no closed-form, exact formulas, for those estimators variances or their exact sampling distributions. Monte Carlo evaluations are used to study the bias and precision of the proposed overlap measures. Bootstrap method and Taylor series approximation are used to construct confidence intervals for the overlap measures.

Depression In The Elderly: Does Family System Play A Role? A Cross-Sectional Study, Ather M. Taqui, Ahmed Itrat, Waris Qidwai, Zeeshan Qadri

Department of Family Medicine

Background

The most common geriatric psychiatric disorder is depression. The role of family systems in depression among the elderly has not been studied extensively. It has been suggested that urbanization promotes nucleation of family systems and a decrease in care and support for the elderly. We conducted this study in Karachi, a large urban city of Pakistan, to determine the relationship between the type of family system and depression. We also determined the prevalence of depression in the elderly, as well as correlation of depression with other important socio-demographic variables.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was carried out in the premises …

The State Of Latino Health And Mental Health, Gregory Acevedo, Manny J. González, Victoria Santiago, Carlos Vargas-Ramos

Policy Documents

The Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños/Hunter College and Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service collaborated on this report to review the health and mental health status of Latinos/as. This analysis integrates national and local statistics from published reports and scholarly articles. Based on the analysis of Hispanic health and mental health, the authors have generated a set of recommendations for policies targeting the health and mental health needs of Latinos/as and promoting their overall well-being. Aside from these specific recommendations, they call for more disaggregated data collection about Hispanic subgroups.

Diagnostic Classifications And Resource Utilization Of Decedents Served By The Department Of Veterans Affairs, Sonia A. Duffy, Laurel Copeland, Faith Hopp, Robert J. Zalenski

Social Work Faculty Publications

Background: Given the volume and cost of inpatient care during the last year of life, there is a critical need to identify patterns of dying as a means of planning end-of-life care services, especially for the growing number of older persons who receive services from the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

Methods: A retrospective computerized record review was conducted of 20,933 VHA patients who died as inpatients between October 1, 2001 and September 30, 2002. Diagnoses were aggregated into one of five classification patterns of death and analyzed in terms of health care resource utilization (mean number of inpatient days and …

Understanding Mental Health From A Candomblé Perspective, Kerilyn Daniel

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Candomblé is an Afro-Brazilian religion that has a strong presence in Brazil as a religious institution as well as a health center. Many turn to the houses of Candomblé (terreiros) for healing from not only physical ailments but mental illnesses as well. Candomblé has been very effective in healing mental illnesses even when Western medicine has proved ineffective. I have sought to understand how Candomblé perceives mental health and the treatment of mental illness. I have examined how they diagnose mental illnesses, how they understand the nature of the illness, and their healing methods. I have also explored more general …

Deliverance As Part Of The Therapeutic Process, David W. Appleby

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Within the last few years there has been an increased interest in spiritual warfare and, along with it, the deliverance ministry. The increased visibility of this ministry has resulted in a plethora of books and tapes on the subject. The following is an outline of a presentation made at the 2007 American Association of Christian Counselor’s World Conference in Nashville, TN. It is entitled Deliverance as a Part of the Therapeutic Process.

Assessment In Crisis, Amresh Srivastava

Psychiatry Presentations

No abstract provided.

Massworks: Quality Employment Services: Where Research And Practice Meet, Rick Kugler, Cindy Thomas

MassWorks Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

Providing quality employment services to people with disabilities requires a substantial commitment of time, energy, and resources. Given this investment and our obligation to individuals with disabilities, we as providers must deliver the most effective services possible.

Adolescents And Marijuana Use: The Affects Of Peer And Parent Relationships And Substance Abuse Education., Samuel Joseph Cosimano

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to analyze gender, race, substance abuse programs such as Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.), parents, and peers and their ability to influence or predict adolescents and their decisions to use marijuana. All of the variables used for this study came from secondhand data collected by Esbensen and Osgood (1999), Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.). The analysis revealed that males are more likely to have ever used marijuana, that mixed race adolescents have a higher rate than other races to have ever used marijuana, that when adolescents complete the substance abuse program, D.A.R.E. have …

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder And Associated Risk Factors In Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans With Health-Related Disabilities, Don Richardson, James A. Naifeh, Jon D Elhai

MacDonald Franklin OSI Research Centre

Objectives:

This study investigates posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and its associated risk factors in a random, national, Canadian sample of United Nations peacekeeping veterans with service-related disabilities.

Methods:

Participants included 1016 male veterans (age < 65 years) who served in the Canadian Forces from 1990 to 1999 and were selected from a larger random sample of 1968 veterans who voluntarily and anonymously completed a general health survey conducted by Veterans Affairs Canada in 1999. Survey instruments included the PTSD Checklist-Military Version (PCL-M), Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D), and questionnaires regarding life events during the past year, current stressors, sociodemographic characteristics, and military history.

Results:

We found that rates of probable PTSD (PCL-M score > 50) among veterans were 10.92% for veterans deployed once and 14.84% for those deployed more than once. The rates of probable clinical depression (CES-D score > 16) were 30.35% for veterans deployed once and 32.62% for those deployed more than once. We found that, in multivariate analyses, probable PTSD rates and PTSD severity were associated with younger …

Validity Of The Clinical Assessment Of Depression With The Brief Symptom Inventory, Carlie West

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Depression is a disorder frequently noted in college students that can affect multiple aspects of one's life, ranging from physical health issues to interpersonal relationship difficulties. Therefore, it is imperative that the depressive symptoms of college students be identified, evaluated, and treated. This investigation explored the validity of a newly published self-report narrow-band measure of depression, the Clinical Assessment of Depression (CAD; Bracken & Howell, 2004) with an existing broad-band measure, the Brief Symptom Inventory (Derogatis, 1993). College students 18 to 52 years of age (n = 280) enrolled in undergraduate courses in psychology at a south central Kentucky university …

A Model For Preventing Anorexia In College Students, Laura Ann Negin

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The prevalence of anorexia nervosa in the general population is relatively low, but anorexia is at the forefront of health concerns because of its seriousness. Unhealthy weight loss has numerous physical, psychological, and social consequences. Most seriously, the mortality rate for people with eating disorders is the highest of all the major psychiatric disorders.

This dissertation presents a model for preventing anorexia nervosa in a population of college students that includes a comprehensive institutional approach, psychoeducational software, a high-risk population, a holistic approach that identifies an individual’s personal risk factors and protective factors, and individual therapy.

The model is built …

Religious Coping And Depression In Home Care Patients, Kirsten Ingheim

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

This study examined the impact of a medical illness in 36 elderly male and female home health care patients with a primary diagnosis of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and how they coped with their medical condition. Relationships between depression and religious coping, functional status, quality of life, and depression, as well as relationship between functional status and quality of life were investigated. In addition, a moderating effect of the relationship between functional status and depression by religious coping was explored. The participants completed the Religious Problem-Solving Scale (RPSS) (Collaborative, Deferring, and Self-Directing), the SF-12 …

Behavioral Compliance And Verbal Intelligence In Children, Jared Jackson

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Compliance with parental requests is an important developmental task necessary in the socialization of children. The majority of research has focused on the relationship between child compliance and variables related to age, parental interactions, and child temperament. While these variables account for almost half of the variance related to compliance in children, there is still a large amount of variance unaccounted for. An area that has not been fully explored is the role of verbal intelligence in behavioral compliance of children. This study explored the contributions that verbal intelligence may play in the behavioral compliance of children. Results from this …

Does State Certification Or Licensure Influence Outpatient Substance Abuse Treatment Program Practices?, Jamie Chriqui, Yvonne Terry-Mcelrath, Duane C. Mcbride, S Eidson, Curtis Vanderwaal

Faculty Publications

In the United States, state governments legally authorize outpatient substance abuse treatment programs. In some states, programs are certified or accredited (ideal standards). Other states license programs (minimal standards). Additionally, some states authorize programs through "deemed status", which is afforded to programs attaining accreditation from a national accrediting body. Primary legal research and the National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services' (N-SSATS) data were used to examine the relationships between state authorization type (certification/accreditation vs licensure with and without deemed status) and outpatient treatment program practices. Programs in certification/accreditation (vs licensure) states had significantly higher odds of offering wrap-around and …

Does State Certification Or Licensure Influence Outpatient Substance Abuse Treatment Program Practices?, Jamie Chriqui, Yvonne Terry-Mcelrath, Duane C. Mcbride, S Eidson, Curtis Vanderwaal

Duane McBride

In the United States, state governments legally authorize outpatient substance abuse treatment programs. In some states, programs are certified or accredited (ideal standards). Other states license programs (minimal standards). Additionally, some states authorize programs through "deemed status", which is afforded to programs attaining accreditation from a national accrediting body. Primary legal research and the National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services' (N-SSATS) data were used to examine the relationships between state authorization type (certification/accreditation vs licensure with and without deemed status) and outpatient treatment program practices. Programs in certification/accreditation (vs licensure) states had significantly higher odds of offering wrap-around and …

Web Du Bois And The "Negro Problem": Thoughts On Violence In Philadelphia, Amy Hillier

Amy Hillier

This sermon, delivered at First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia, might also be called "Why a white girl from New Hampshire is studying The Philadelphia Negro." This essay/sermon connects Du Bois's 1896 survey of Philadelphia to the violence currently plaguing Philadelphia.

Examining The Ability Of The Halstead -Reitan Battery And The Wide Range Achievement Test To Utilize Severity In Discriminating Among Alzheimer's Dementia Patients, Gina Gibson-Beverly

Doctoral Dissertations

Measuring change in cognitive status is essential for the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of brain dysfunction. Psychological abilities are differentially affected by brain dysfunction severity, as some abilities are more vulnerable to brain dysfunction than others. Neuropsychological assessments can be viewed as a continuum of "hold" and "don't hold" tests. "Hold" tests assess abilities that remain stable in spite of brain dysfunction, while "don't hold" tests measure skills that are significantly compromised by brain impairment. The present study ranks the Halstead-Reitan Battery (HRB) and the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) subtests based on their ability to discriminate between two levels …

Evaluation Of A Sleep Hygiene Program To Improve Inmate Sleep Quality, Jennifer F. Hodges-Crowder

Doctoral Dissertations

Research investigating the effectiveness of treatments for inmates with poor sleep quality appears minimal. Some difficulties related to poor sleep quality can be addressed effectively with little time and expense. Studies show that psychoeducational interventions are effective in reducing sleep complaints and improving sleep quality in a variety of populations including college students and adults. However, the effect of sleep hygiene interventions on inmate sleep complaints is unknown. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate a psychoeducational intervention program aimed at improving prison inmate sleep habits, length, and quality.

Participants of this study were inmates at a department …

The Importance Of Gender And Readiness To Change In The Prediction Of Drinking And Negative Consequences Of First-Year Student Drinkers, Margot E. Ackermann

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

College drinking is widespread, and binge drinkers can experience serious consequences. The present study examined the effectiveness of two interventions, expressive writing and behavioral monitoring, as well a combined condition, in reducing drinking and negative consequences associated with drinking. Gender differences and differences in readiness to change binge drinking were also assessed. Participants (N = 97) completed a pretest, eight weekly intervention activities, and a posttest during their first semester of college. An ANOVA tested the hypothesis that individuals higher in readiness to change binge drinking participated in more of the weekly intervention activities; this hypothesis was not supported. A …

Effects Of Therapy Dogs On Anxiety In Children Participating In Sexual Abuse Forensic Interviews At Children's Advocacy Center, Andra K. Chamberlin

Graduate Theses

This study investigated the effect of therapy dogs on physiological and psychological measures of anxiety before and after a forensic interview in children who may have been sexually abused. A convenience sample consisted of 37 children ages 6 to 12 years who presented at a children’s advocacy center for sexual abuse forensic interviews. Twenty children had a therapy dog present during their time at the Center and 17 did not. Researchers measured systolic blood pressure (SBP) and heart rate (HR) using a Zelwa WS-TS Touch Screen Wrist Blood Pressure Monitor. State- anxiety was assessed using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for …

Incidence, Patterns And Severity Of Reported Unintentional Injuries In Pakistan For Persons Five Years And Older: Results Of The National Health Survey Of Pakistan 1990–94, Zafar Fatmi, Wilbur C. Hadden, Junaid A. Razzak, Huma Qureshi, Adnan A. Hyder, Gregory Pappas

Community Health Sciences

Background

National level estimates of injuries are not readily available for developing countries. This study estimated the annual incidence, patterns and severity of unintentional injuries among persons over five years of age in Pakistan.

Methods

National Health Survey of Pakistan (NHSP 1990–94) is a nationally representative survey of the household. Through a two-stage stratified design, 18, 315 persons over 5 years of age were interviewed to estimate the overall annual incidence, patterns and severity of unintentional injuries for males and females in urban and rural areas over the preceding one year. Weighted estimates were computed adjusting for complex survey design …

The Health Implications Of Violence Against Women: Untangling The Complexities Of Actual And Chronic Effects: Part Two, Carol E. Jordan

Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women Publications

No abstract provided.

Talented Children And Adults: Their Development And Education, Jane Piirto

Jane Piirto

No abstract provided.

Globalization And Drug And Alcohol Use In Rural Communities In Nigeria: A Case Study, Charles Fiki

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper presents an exploratory study of alcohol and drug use in two rural communities in Plateau State, Nigeria. The aim is to raise awareness of the rural alcohol and drug problem. The paper examines the patterns of alcohol consumption and drug use, and their perceived functions for substance use among rural farmers in Nigeria. The study shows the common use of marijuana and alcohol in addition to prescription drugs. There is also evidence of multiple or combinational drug use. Pleasure and relaxation emerged as the major reasons for drug and alcohol use. Factors influencing alcohol and drug use are …